2004-D

Denver delivered 2,660,000 Sacagawea dollars in 2004, the lowest annual production at any mint for the program before the 2012 shift to Not Intended For Circulation status. Philadelphia struck the same 2,660,000 figure that year, which is unusual: the two production mints rarely matched output to the unit. The 2004 calendar also coincided with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, the period when the historical Sacagawea figure was getting more public attention than at any time since the coin's 2000 launch. None of that translated into circulation demand; banks were not ordering the dollar, and the Mint kept output low to match. The 2004-D used Glenna Goodacre's Sacagawea obverse and Thomas D. Rogers Sr.'s Soaring Eagle reverse, both unchanged since 2000.

The manganese-brass alloy is forgiving on strike but punishing on contact: the soft surface picks up bag marks readily, and the most common grading deduction on a 2004-D is hairlines or rim ticks rather than weak detail. Original Mint set examples typically show stronger hair detail above Sacagawea's ear and cleaner eagle wing feathers than late-die-state circulation pieces, because Denver was working fresher dies on the smaller delivery. Watch for the planchet streaking and pale matte zones that come from uneven burnishing of the brass clad surface; these are production characteristics, not damage, but they hold grades back. No major Denver die varieties are documented for 2004.

The 2004-D is a Regular classification issue rather than a Key Date, but the matched 2,660,000 mintage is the lowest pre-NIFC figure in the series, and condition-rare examples at MS68 and above carry meaningful premiums. Below MS67, raw bank-wrapped rolls and ungraded singles trade close to face plus a small numismatic markup; sending one to grading rarely makes economic sense at lower tiers. For program background and the 2009 transition to rotating Native American reverses, see the Sacagawea Dollar series history.